Philander clinical on happy hunting ground

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Vernon Philander celebrates

Vernon Philander continuing his successful record at Lord’s by ending with 3-46 on day one against England is KHALID MOHIDIN‘s Play of the Day. 

The South African seamer who’s 7-78 at Lord’s helped the Proteas seal a series win against England in 2012, started off superbly in the first session against England on Thursday.

The Proteas seamer went into lunch with figures of 3-26 as SA rattled England at 84-4 in the first session.

ALSO READ: Philander’s triple strike leaves England in tatters

Despite missing SA’s warm-up match due to an ankle injury he picked up in a county stint for Sussex, Philander shook off any doubts over his recovery by ripping through England’s top order.

The 32-year-old took full advantage of the warm-humid conditions to produce excellent swing bowling.

His first wicket came from a short-of-a-length delivery angled across ex-England captain Alastair Cook, who pushed away from his body finding an edge which was snapped up by Quinton de Kock.

Philander’s second scalp was a tad bit fortunate, as a delivery pitched outside leg missed Keaton Jennings inside edge and thumped into his pad, but the South African-born opener passed on a review. DRS replays later showed that the Umpire’s call would have been overturned, but Jennings walked back to the Pavilion for 8, with his side on 17-2 (5.2 overs).

Philander’s final wicket came from his specialist stock ball, full and straight as it hit the seam and crashed into Jonny Bairstow’s pad, England pinned back at 76-4.

The right-arm seamer took his tally against England to 15 wickets and will aim to break the 167-run partnership between Joe Root (184) and Moeen Ali (61) early on day two.

ALSO READ: Proteas toil as Root scores 184

Scorecard

Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images